Presidential candidates college students liked in my lifetime: Hard to see a pattern here

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/02/13/10-presidential-candidates-who-were-popular-with-college-students/

Yes, many got clean for Gene:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EugeneMcCarthy.jpg

But this may surprise you:

"With the benefit of hindsight, it seems insane to us that Richard Nixon would have been popular with young people. But contrary to popular belief, not every college kid was anti-war in the ’70s. Nixon actually split the youth vote with McGovern in the 1972 election. Nixon won some over by promising to end the draft. But tens of thousands of young Republicans appreciated Nixon’s hard-line stance against not only the Vietcong, but American anti-war protestors. To these college kids McGovern looked weak, and whatever else you could say about Tricky Dick, no one could claim he was afraid of a fight."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Nixon.jpg